3 Months Later...Second Term of Uni - Done. (Part 1)

So, they tell you that university goes quickly. You won't believe that, until you get here. I'm sat here at the end of my second term at Coventry University, thinking hang on...it feels like just yesterday I was manically packing, stalling, and trying not to cry as I waved goodbye to my friends and family.

And here I am now, 6 months later thinking "where the hell did the time go?" To be fair, I have really surprised myself. The Lisa that sits at this computer now, is not the Lisa of 6 months ago. No one thought I would come to University and I proved them all wrong (and you have no idea how good that feels). Lisa of 6 months ago used to get homesick at a sleepover, the thought of going into a room full of people she didn't know made her feel nauseated and uncomfortable, and the thought of being single sent her heart racing and the "I'll be alone forever" thoughts to race through her head. Now, I'm happy to be independent, and meeting new people is something I see as a blessing. You learn from them...you learn a lot from them. Whether it's a hard lesson, or one you don't even realise, a lesson is there. It is true what they say - you learn something new every day. And..*sigh* boyyy... have I learnt a lot in the past six months. And the learning doesn't all go on when I'm in university, it's mostly outside, in your social life. Unfortunately, quite a few of my lessons have been hard ones, but that doesn't mean they weren't good lessons. Now, I am not going to bore you with them because either you've learnt them already..or you will. Also, I never regret anything. The past is the past and no matter how much you worry and cry about it, it will never change. So take the good things from it, laugh about it, move on with a smile.

Everything happens for a reason - something I will always live by.

So..they also say that the middle term of your first year is the longest and most stressful of the three. You also don't realise this until you're in the position I am in right now, and you look back on the past couple of months and think dayyymmm. Now, the second term of my course is mostly based on devising. The first couple of weeks, you will receive stimulus in groups on the Monday and by the Thursday you will need to perform a ten minute scratch. Now, this may sound easy but remember you have all your over lectures Monday through to Thursday. And, if your in my case, you would have a Primary School placement on the Tuesday and third year play rehearsals almost every day from four till six. So, finding the time wasn't easy.

Then on Tuesday 5th February our class all took a trip to The Tate Art Gallery in London. This would be the stimulus for our end of term performance. Our task: To explore the gallery in groups and pick exhibits that stand out to the whole of your group. We were given several expeditions to go around - 1 mandatory - "Things in the mirror are closer than they appear"- and a couple others. Now don't get me wrong I love art but...looking at it all day, thinking "what do I get from this" when its a torch shining on a bit of foil, will make your head hurt. This consequently led to my group and one other trying ti get to a MacDonalds and getting lost in the middle of London. Like any normal teenagers, who are lost and worried about getting back...what do we do? Take pictures :).

So we all squeezed into a red phone box and pose outside Saint Paul's Cathedral until someone comes up with the amazing idea of asking for directions. By this point we were all freezing and very thankful to finally take refuge with big macs and chicken nuggets. After we were full, warm and finally focused we realised we hadn't completed the task just yet. Also on our journey to The Tate, we needed to buy a newspaper and find an object around London to incorporate into our piece.When we got back to the Tate we searched everywhere but just could not find anything. We were coming to an end outside near the Thames when we looked down and saw this massive white rock. The only problem was how do we get to it. Thats when Ola (next to me in the phone box) climbed down and got it - in her Doc Martins may I mention. We then spent about 45 minutes in the bathroom cleaning the rock...and her shoes, and basically just making a royal mess. We then had to spend an extra 15 minutes cleaning that mess :p. By this time, it was time to head back to the coach. Now - you know on normal school trips the teachers will wait and do a head check and things...yeah..lecturers don't do that. You miss that coach, you are on your own. So the people walking by the Thames that day would have seen about 7 university students sprinting across the bridge, shouting to each other very loudly and screaming as pigeons flew into their faces. 

Luckily...

We made the coach :). And..wow..what a quiet coach journey it was. Let theatre students loose in London together, they are bound to pass out as soon as they sit down :p...so yeah I cannot remember the journey home at all.

I didn't actually realise how long this blog was getting so I will leave you with the first part of my second term for now, and fill you in on the rest a bit later. Which was the most stressful part - devising. I may even give some advice on how to get by in an extremely incompatible group...it's not easy.
Thank you for reading and I'll catch you guys soon :)
xxx

Wow...Have I been busy...

Ok, first off, sorry for not blogging in a very longgg time...well actually I think a week maybe... I have been incredibly busy. I should probably explain what I've been up to...Obviously with being at university near christmas all your deadlines come in, and you have a lot to do. With my assessment for the empty space happening on Monday and Tuesday my rehearsals have been endless - but good news is we've finished our performance devising soooo stresses have gone down a little, but only a little, as the performance date is rearing its ugly head. Actually, stresses will probably rise by the end of the day, as I have a rehearsal at 4.30pm and we have to get everything looking perfect as it may be our last rehearsal...and I haven't learnt my lines yettt..ohh dear.
For those of you who have never heard of the empty space before, it is a module we do in the first semester of term 1, and it's basically all about the actors and the stage. There are no props, costumes, scenery...anything other than the actors and the stage. This assessment is about putting all the skills we've learnt in the first term into our performance. You get given a script which you will have to cut down depending on the length...and basically just get let out into the wild until the performance date. We were given a script of "The Gold Bug" by Edgar Allan Poe, and it was 25 pages long! It took us a couple of rehearsals, but we eventually got it down to 8 pages. Our performance is a really mixed up genre, it's incredibly dark but at the same time you won't be able to sit through it without laughing at least 10 times. I play the charcater of a Jamaican doll called Peter, and my brother Joe is played by my friend and group member Aizah. Together we make the comical pair of servants called Jupiter. Originally Jupiter was one characater however we decided to split it. This takes some time to rearrange all the lines and everything but I would really reccomend it as it sets your piece away from everyone elses. Like I said the performance is on Monday or Tuesday - I will see if I can get someone to film it and I will put it up for you guys to see :).
Also in my last blog, I mentioned another street dance performance. And I am proud to say it went a lot better than the last one :) so I am improving slowly but surely. Just a tip though - if you're going to aim your performance at someone...try to swap it about a bit during the performance to avoid a pair of creepy guys who will not smiling at you for the rest of the night. And you will have to leave abruptly..without food - which - we had to pay for by the way. What is up with that ?! It should have at least been free for the performers. That might just have been me being high maintenance, but come on... I havent actually seen the videos for either performances yet, as they seem to have disappeared of the planet, but as soon as I get hold of one I will put it up or give you guys the link :).
The other thing that has been keeping me busy is my first university essay. It is part of our theatre histories module which runs over semesters one and two. You get to choose what era you write about so I thought I would do the era where it all started - Greek Theatre. Now I work best under pressure so I tend to leave things like this a little too late, and was up till about 3 in the morning doing it. But you know what, it has been proven that people that do essays last minute actually get a higher grade to people who took ages to do it, as they ramble less and get straight to the point. Now - this is not me saying leave everything till the last minute as you will die under the pressure, but just something to keep in mind when it is three in the morning and all you want to do is fall asleep on your laptop keyboard. Fingers crossed that I prove this fact right... I will let you know how it goes. If anyone is actually doing an essay like this and would like any tips on the best books and websites to use, or how to reference just contact me and I'll be happy to help. I'll leave my email and twitter below. :)
On top of all this, I've had performances to go to which I will review and blog about in the near future, my street dance class, my addvantage module (which was sooo messed up and I had to contact the school and sort everything out), global leaders, third year play rehearsals, sorting out housing for next year, maintaining a social life and just living basically.
So sorry this was a bit of a boring blog, but I thought I did owe some sort of explanation as to what I've been doing this past week. I have a few things to catch up on so look out for my upcoming blogs.
See you soon
Byeee :) xxxx

Twitter: @LisaNicole2012
Email: xlisa-stevens04x@hotmail.com

First Street Dance Performance

Well hey everyone! As I said yesterday, I will be blogging about my first street dance performance today..yay :).
But first...
I am unfortunately going to rant a little bit, so if you do not want to hear me moan just skip this little paragraph. So last night... I got ill. It sucks. I mean my first street dance performance ever, and I'm ill for it. Brilliant. And its the whole shebang - throat ears head nose voice stomach...I think maybe even eyes at some point. Literally everything it could effect it has. So naturally I couldn't sleep. I could  not stop coughing, my eyes were watering, I was lurching ... oh wow.. I sound soo attractive right now. So I am feeling very fragile, I'm missing home.. and I really just want a cuddle. And there is no one to cuddle me. *cry*
Anyway moving on to the better part of my day, the street dance team and I had our first proper performance of the year today. Now, over the past couple of months we have been learning various choreos from all the teachers, and we...well they...have finally put them together and made a performance :). I will put a link below to our youtube channel as most of the choreo is on there. We basically performed at half time of a football tournament. I don't really have much information on what that was, or how it went... the only thing I really cared about was performing so sorry if you wanted to know more about that. I think it was possibly the recreational football teams of the uni...or something like that..all coming together for a tournament. .Unfortunately we got there at 11, and were expecting some place to rehearse but there wasn't one, so we just sat around for about an hour (It was quite amusing to see the ex president of street dance in goal..we did all stand at the door laughing at him for a while) until we got the hall to rehearse in, while the footballers showered, ate...did whatever they needed to do really. We went through it twice, I think (sorry my mind is foggy from this stupid cold) and then we got on to performing. What was really nice was that at the last minute the teachers actually joined us in their choreo - I think they should be able to perform it as it's all their hard work and they bring it justice more than we do. Not all of the teachers were there unfortunately,but the ones that were there joined in.
How do you think it went? I hear you ask. As a group evaluation I would say everyone did very very well. The choreo was performed with the most energy I've seen and we got a very good response from the audience. Even when the music cut out, not just once, but twice (!) no one panicked and everyone carried on with a level of professionalism. And we did get some lovely praise from our President which is always a good sign. We also got offered free food tonight at a restaurant as a thankyou..and I think everyone is there now as I write this. I couldn't go because I am feeling way too rough to eat..and i am gutted because its not often we all hang out together, and it was Indian, which I absolutely love, so I am a little down about that :(. But hopefully we'll do it again soon. Anyway-

My performance... I didn't go wrong on the choreo which is good :), but as for performing I know I can improve. When I say performing I do not mean performing the actual moves, I mean facial expression, attitude and that so called swag that seems to come soo easy to all our teachers. Until I can perform like them I will not be happy.The thing is, because I have been a cheerleader so long, I feel like the happy, smiley, cheekiness is drummed into me as how to perform. But..if I did that performing a street dance choreo I would just look like a crazy person. I would get noticed..but for all the wrong reasons. I am glad I have improvements to make though, as I feel people who think they know everything and are perfect at something are incredibly ignorant. You can always learn something new, and you can always improve. As for my improvements, I'm going to try my hardest and will keep you posted with a brutally honest account of how I feel I'm doing. We have another performance on Thursday in front of a much bigger audience, and hopefully everyone will be able to make it. So, I will be doing a blog on how it went and I feel I made any performing improvements.

There were quite a few people taking videos so as soon as one goes up I will post a link in my blog of the day, so you can all see it :).
And my little piece of advice today would be... always take some university work with you wherever you go. I wish I had taken one of my study books to read as I was sat there for an hour as then it would have been time spent wisely, and not time wasted. I have way too much to do right now, to sit around not doing anything. So learn from my mistakes :).
I am now off to make soup, as I feel that is an appropriate thing to eat when your ill, and then I am going to snuggle up in a big hoodie and feel sorry for myself. I might do some more of my theatre history essay, if I feel like it...but I probably won't.

Bye for now
xxx

What I do at University

Ok, so I've literally just got back from a street dance rehearsal as we are performing tomorrow and I am just a little tired...and I have a whole essay to write, so I am going to try and do this quickly. Hope it makes sense.
I'm basically going to fill you guys in on what I actually do at university, as there is sooo much you can do. Everyone should take all the opportunities they can, and they will have the most fun. I absolutely love university! I'm never bored and I've met so many amazing people.
This may be boring, but it is definitely a good blog to look at if you are planning on going to uni, as it will give you an idea of whats out there for you to take advantage of. I've colour coded the different sections so you can skip around to whats relevant and things, so enjoy :P.
Anyway on to what I do...

Right in university I obviously study my degree which is Theatre and Professional Practice. This will take up most of your time. I'm in four days a week at the moment, however your timetable changes every semester, which in university you have 3 of. With no half terms, which sounds terrible but believe me you don't even realise that you were meant to have one. The time has gone so fast and I literally can't believe I'm almost at the end of my first term! In another blog I will discuss what I do on my degree in a lot more detail, and settle the debate that drama school is better than university. Your valid to your own opinion but it may not be fact, just saying ;).
Along side our degrees, we do an add-vantage module.This is a new thing that Coventry University is trying so you may not neccessarily do this at your university. It is basically something extra that will make you unique to everyone else with the same sort of degree as you. You can do anything from learning to be a pilot, to a language, to creative writing. The idea is you do something that is in a completely different genre to your degree so you cover a wider field. You do a different module each year, and they run over one or two out of three semesters. For my module this year I am taking Volunteering in Primary Schools. Now compared to many other modules this is very spaced out, and you not in every week of a semester, however it does run over two. The idea is that at the end you will do 10 hours of guided reading with a child at a chosen primary school. Before this you have to sort out all the important things like your CRB check and your placement at a school ect. I have my induction at my school on the 10th and I start my 10 hours in the new year, so I will keep you updated. The reason I took this module is because, in the future, I would like to be a teacher alongside obviously acting and dancing. Now, even though I would like to teach children at a much older age, I thought this would be a good experience to see whether I am actually heading in the right direction. As even though I think I'll make a pretty damn good teacher...I could be wrong. So we will see in 2013 how it goes :).
The other course I do is called The Global Leaders Project. Now, I get to take this course free with my academic excellence scholarship, but it is normally £100. But, since it is free to me, why would I miss this opportunity? This course is based on making you more employable globally, and helping you to become a leader. Now this course is very highly looked at by employers and you learn some very good skills, so if you get the opportunity to do it - take it! I am going to try and not bore you so if you would like more information on this course please go to this link - http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/GLP/Pages/Home.aspx
Right, now we've come to the good bit. Alongside everything that you study, and take part in, your university will have societies. Now, it will take you a longgg time to pick which one you actually want to do as you really wont have time for more. In the first week youll have two fayres - The Freshers Fayre and The Societies Fair. At the society fayre you will sign up for every society that interests you, then you'll have a taster session. I had soo many I wanted to do including winter sports, athlectics, cheerleading, latin dance, musical theatre society...and then there was street dance. I tried everyone, and you would think because I am already a cheerleader, I would have chosen that. BUT.. to anyone to does cheerleading will know that from being a level 5 cheerleader..to then become a level 2, is just a massive no. So that went out the window. Street dance was actually the last one I tried but it kicked all the others arses..I am not even kidding. There will be one that does this for you, you just have to find it :). Now my first night of street dance was a social in a night club..and you should have seen them dance! They are the kind of people you want to look like in a club but just kind of fail at it :P. So after that I went to the taster session and just fell in love with it. We now train every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and we all do flash mobs in clubs every Monday. So societies do take up a lot of time, but they are so worth it, and you meet some really awesome people. Like everyone on street dance is amazing and we all get on really well. Its very different to other dance I've done and I'm still that little bit too elegant but I am getting there. If you would to see some choreo you can look on the Coventry Street Dance youtube page, however I have put a link below to some of the choreo I've been in. Our first performance is tomorrow (ahhh) so a video will be going up, and I will be blogging about how it all goes, so wish me luck ;).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgdf2xQBpPk - I am the one in like a teal green :)

Now, there are a few more things that I will be doing in the future which I am sure to blog about. Like being in three of our third year plays next year. I am the part in one and minor parts in the others, so thats all exciting. And I also want to volunteer as a cybermentor which is basically counselling over the internet for students who are being bullied or having other problems. So I will be keeping you up to date with those too :).

So there you have it really... what I'm getting up to. Everyone says that these are the best years of our lives, so don't let them pass you by. My biggest piece of advice in this blog is to just do everything you can and want to (whilst keeping up on your work obviously). Yes, I am exhausted, but I will catch up on sleep in the breaks. This is the only time I will ever use this this terrible saying - YOLO...and for those of you who dont know what that means - you only live once.

So do everything you can and never regret anything.

Bye for now
xxx

Empire - Work In Progress Showing

Okay, so as I mentioned in my last blog, I went to the Warwick Arts Centre to see a work in progress showing of a production called Empire. Now, this was my second showing of work in progress that I had been to and to be honest my first one didn't go so well. It was a production called Hoke's Bluff and not knowing what to expect I went in really opened minded. Now this wasn't necessarily a good thing as I then came up with the illusion that it actually was all an act that it was "work in progress". That they were using scripts and going wrong all on purpose. I thought that was an amazing idea...and when I found out that this wasn't the case, my heart sunk a little. So, my first experience was a little bit of a downer.
However, not letting that stop me I went along...(the free ticket may have tempted me too) and I am so glad I did, because it was such a good experience. It was completely different to the first showing I went to. At first I was quite uncomfortable as I sat right in the front row with my friend Emma, and the three actors sat right in front of us, so it was just a little awkward. There were two men and a woman, and the first thing they said to us was, that after two weeks of rehearsal, they actually had no concrete material. Which I thought was absolutely brilliant. If you're a theatre student you will know how frustrating it is to sit in hours of rehearsals and just come up with nothing (it happens to the best of us, don't worry). So to hear that from a professional team was actually really refreshing. So, basically what they had done was two hours before this showing, brainstormed all the ideas they could think of. And they were going to try them out. Now.
So, I am not going to talk you through the whole thing as that could just get even more boring, I am just going to talk about the things they mentioned that really interested me, and if you're interested in theatre, will hopefully interest you too.
The first thing they wanted to achieve was to create a production that has the same amount of enthusiasm you get from coming to a showing. This is interesting because with an actual finished production, you have a trailor, posters, and generally an idea of what you are about to see. But with a showing, you have a name and a company...and that's pretty much it. It is exciting and you do wonder whether you will be walking out half way through, but you go willingly none the less. But how do you get a whole theatre audience to come to a production with a just a name and no other information...and pay to see it. It's a tough task...and it will be testing people's genuine love for the theatre. Are you willing to pay a substantial amount to go to a production you know nothing about? It's a tough one isn't it?
The next issue they targeted was getting the audience to get invovled without telling or asking them to directly. They got this inspiration from a produciton they went to see, where the actors were stood still on stage for quite some time, and this random woman from the audience just got up and joined them on stage in the pose. Then, when they eventually carried on she just went back to her seat. Now the rest of the audience were confused, thinking was that meant to happen? Now in a cast interview it was revealed that it wasn't, and when they found this woman to interview, it turned out she just had this sudden urge to join them. What an achievement, to get someone so into the performance that they literally just have to join you on stage. But how do you do it? Get them to over come the nervousness and uncomfotableness and get up on stage. In front of everyone. Would you ever do it? I think I could, but I would really, really have to be inspired and taken by what was being performed.
Another thing I noticed was that they kept the curtains open of the place they were performing, so everyone walking past was staring in and it was a little distracting. At the end they had a discussion on the performance and I asked them why they did this. Their response was they wanted us to see ourselves. Now, it hadn't even crossed my mind that I could see my reflection. They didn't really have a reason for it, they just wanted us to...which I guess is ok.

The main bulk of their piece was quite interesting as it was about the empire of theatre. That you have a theatre, then a stage, then the production team, then the actors, then the audience, then finally the workers. They are all part of the theatre - so why is it that the workers never get to see the production? So their idea was to over throw the empire and take over a theatre for the night. Replace all the workers and make them the audience. I thought this was a real revolutionary idea, and I am really intrigued to see how this production develops. I asked them if they would be coming back and showing their progression and production, and since they have literally toured the world in a week (they'd already been to Australia and Russia!), they didn't really know - but they took my email and they are going to keep me updated with all their ideas and I will know when they come back to Warwick. So I am practically going to go on this journey with them and I am so excited :). They are planning to have it all done in two years, as their rehearsals are part time every six months as they all have a lot on, so this is going to be a really interesting journey. So I will keep you updated, and hopefully have a show to review at the end of it.
Oh, and we also got chocolate cake and tea whilst we chated with the actors which I thought was a lovely personal touch - and no one is going to turn down cake, well I am certainly not (That reminds me - must go to the gym!). Me and Emma were actually the last two to leave as we just had so much to say. What I thought was actually really nice was that they all were interested in where we came from. So it wasn't a one sided conversation, they actually were as interested in what we were doing as what we were with they were doing. It's alway nice when you come across that in the theatre, because as students in talks, you sometimes get looked down on. But when they appreciate your company...it's really...fulfilling. We are the future generation of theatre after all, and it's nice for people to observe that fact. You feel alot more appreciated and it makes you feel good :).

So, my advice to you in this blog, would be to never let anything put you off going to a show, as you just don't know what your going to take out of it. And whether it be good or bad you will always get something out of it - so never think of it as money wasted. And if there are any showings of work in progress near you - definitely take the opportunity and go to see them. It gives you the chance to see professionals doing what you do in your classes and it is so refreshing. You are inspired, and sometimes even get contacts out of it.

Happy Watching ;)
xxx

Our Town

Hello everyone :). Right, today is my first theatre show review. I have literally just got back from seeing "Our Town" - a production put on by our secound years. Now here's a bit of background of the play (going to get a little boring but needs to be done ;) )- it was written a very long time ago in 1938 by a man called Thornten Wilder. Now, Wilder is famous for his daring staging, and is responsible for many techniques that are now a major part of our everyday theatrical language. Taking an influence from the simplicity of Japanese Theatre, Wilder uses an almost completely bare stage to explore the lives of the inhabitants of the fictional town of "Grovers Corners", New Hampshire from 1899 to 1913. The play has 3 acts with 2 intervals. Our town was an incredibly successful play at the time, which consequently meant it lead to a million school productions which took it off the critical radar for some time. However, a serious of professional productions over the past two years has led to the reveal that this play is possibly the greatest achievement of American twentieth century theatre...and you know what? I think I can agree with that statement. Well done second years.

The play itself follows the lives of two teenagers, neighbouring eachother, and falling in love. Thats just the first act though. The interval passes 3 years and the second act goes on to marriage. The second interval then passes a following 9 years, and yes, the third act is death.

The play itself, for me, is almost like a life. The character that stood out for me was the stage manager, taking on the role as narrator. For me - he made the whole play. They didnt have any set for what he was describing except for a couple of chairs and tables, but he really did paint the whole picture in the audience's heads. We could see the gardens, where sunflowers and peas were growing. The feilds where cows were grazing and the main street where everyone was just about to wake up. It was brilliant and so satisfying for the members of the audience.
The in love teenage characaters managed to capture the hearts of the audience as we followed them on their nervous and cold feet journey of falling in love and getting married. The audeince felt the ache the parents did when they talked about giving away their son or daughter. And finally no member of the audience had dry eyes when it came to the funeral, and the after life. Now I won't reveal too much as I would really reccomend that if there is a production near you to go and see it without a second thought, and this is why -
The last act does something to an audience that almost every play wants to achieve but rarely does to this level. It makes the audience question their own outlook on life. The third act takes the death on a journey back to their before lives, and they see all the things they missed when they were living and, they realise how ignorant and selfish they were. No one on this earth dies knowing the full beauty of life. Now, as the stage manager says, now we've told you this, you have the chance to see it....

Wow. I mean I walked into this play thinking I was going to be bored..maybe falling asleep a little, just trying to get through it because I will be studying it next year. And now, I've walked out with a new found apreciation, a willingless to question myself and change. If I can perform in a play that does just that to an audience member, I will be a happy and fulfilled actress.   
Now not everyone will agree with me, and thats fine, as like all theatre - we love it or hate it. Some people did fall asleep, some people hated it... I loved it.
Now my message to you in this blog is something I've learned from my degree, and experience whilst being here. Don't go and see the plays you'll think you'll like all the time, go to the ones you think you'll hate. Challenge yourself and in doing so you will find out some amazing things, be inspired, and all in all become a lot more experienced.

I am now off to the theatre for the second time, as we have all been given free tickets to a performance at the warwick arts centre :). The production is by experimental theatre makers, Reckless Sleepers and is work in progress, called Empire. Those of you who are doing a degree in theatre will know how much of a priviledge this is. I have spent unbelieveable amounts on productions, because as a theatre student you should go to at least one production a month. Ive been to about 10 already - and this is just my first term! I will be putting up a few more reviews in the future so keep posted. Hope this hasn't been too boring and you've been a little inspired.
And happy challenging ;)

xxx

A New Beginning

Well hey everyone :) it's been a while. Now I know that I started this blog a very, very, very long time ago and I've barely posted anything. And really it was because most of my blogs were turning out to be rants...and I don't really want you all thinking that the only thing I do is moan, because I am actually quite a happy person - who nowadays smiles a lot :). So, my plan is to now start a blog with a purpose, maybe occasional rants and possibly some advice. My life has changed so much in the past couple of months from when I started this blog and to get you up to speed it will take me forever, so I am just gunna fill you in with the main pointers.
Looking back at my previous blogs, I sorta cringe just a little..even though what i'm saying is true in the rants, I know I have matured a lot. Also, my easter blog where I mention my boyfriend..well...lets just say I am single now. Don't worry, there is no hard feelings, I'm just going to say if you're thinking of going to university and your boyfriend is not - be prepared. It is tough and heart breaking, but none the less, I think we are both happy now, and I really do wish him all the best. I hope to stay I am just not the kind of person who can deal with long distance relationships - and if you really do take full advantage of what university offers you, you will barely have the time, but you will be the happiest you have ever been - believe me :).
So, as I mentioned I have recently started university in Coventry, which means Ive moved out! Ahh. Now, yes, in the run up to university, I was absolutely bricking it. And everybody around me could tell. You will never be so stressed, but looking back, it is seriously the best decision I have ever made. And I would reccomend it to everyone. The first hurdle you will have to jump is fitting your whole wardrobe into a suitcase...whoo that is not an easy task! And packing your whole life up into a few boxes is probably even more difficult. But...the most difficult thing for me was leaving my friends and family. Not only did I have to leave my cheerleading team - my complete family of tigers - but also my college friends, my ex boyfriend and my family. Now, looking back, I was devastated. But you find out who your true friends are and a lot about yourself. My mum - I talk to her everyday without fail, even if it's just a text, just to let her know how my day was. Normally, that also consists of talking to my step dad, which is always a laugh :). My sister I talk to now and then, but I know if I ever needed her she would be here in a shot. So really, it is not the end of the world leaving your home. Now I thought I was going to be incredibly homesick and time was going to go so slowly but really and truely - this term has flown by and its only two weeks now until I travel home for christmas - I am so excited. My course is amazing and I am loving my life at the moment.
Now this blog seems to have gone on for a long time and it was probably a little boring for you, but I just wanted to get back into blogging with a little introduction. In my next blog I will be talking about my course and all the things I'm getting up to, and hopefully it will be up in the next couple of days.
Now _ back at the begginning I said that this blog will have a purpose - and that is to fill all you performing arts lovers out there in on what life in this industry is like for me. I will be giving performance reviews, rehearsal techniques, and pretty much give any advice I can, so stay tuned.
Its good to be back bloggers :).
Bye for now xxx